"The Champions of Justice"
Take up arms with Aurelia Raed, where knights and guardians fight for honor, justice, and balance. From Arthurian legends to crusading zealots, this faction calls to those who seek purpose in protecting the innocent and vanquishing darkness. Whether as a wandering knight-errant, a noble leader, or a devout crusader, your courage will shape Grimmloch's fate. Will you uphold justice or redefine what it means to be a hero?
Core Identity
Name: Aurelia Raed
Icon: Gauntleted Fist
Primary Goal: Expansion
Gathering Spot: Kerre Karadel
Values: Courage, loyalty, justice
Influences: Breton culture; European Chivalry (Paladins, Myrmidons, Faris)
Legal Structure: Code of Chivalry; potentially inspired by Ultima Online's Virtue system
Political Organization: Five Virtue Orders with a Regent at Karadel
Luminary: King Arthur (who has not yet returned from Avalon)
Preferred Magic System: Magistry
Liminal Aspect: Sacred Ground and Eternal Oaths (stone circles, ancient burial cairns, or places where oaths are sworn and kept)
Origin and Role in Grimmloch
Origin: The last faction to arrive, born from dreams of justice and honor during eras when warriors upheld chivalric codes or defended sacred causes.
Role in Grimmloch: Champions devoted to protecting Grimmloch from darkness and maintaining balance.
Key Contribution: Built Kerre Karadel, a great keep filled with songs of battle and cries for justice. Their dedication became a stabilizing force within the dreamscape.
Ideal: Expansion of the faction's influence throughout Grimmloch through martial strength and chivalric ideals, establishing order and protection across the islands.
Deviation: Elitism, privilege, narrow righteousness overlooking consequences.
The Five Virtues
The Aurelia Raed organize themselves around five core virtues, each represented by a distinct knightly order. These virtues derive from chivalric traditions across Oikoumene but are given universal expression within the faction.
1. Valor (Courage & Honor)
Ties to duty, martial prowess, and protecting the realm. Standing up for what is right, engaging in battle with honor, showing courage in adversity.
2. Justice (Fairness & Duty)
Maintaining moral integrity, fairness, ensuring laws are applied equitably. Acting with integrity, staying true to one's code, making moral decisions.
3. Compassion (Empathy & Healing)
Showing mercy, caring for the weak, helping those in need. Healing both literally and abstractly, supporting others, creating peace.
4. Loyalty (Fidelity & Integrity)
Faithfulness, keeping one's word, unwavering devotion to sworn companions. A knight's bond is sacred. Remaining true to oaths, trusting in fellowship.
5. Strength (Endurance & Discipline)
Willingness to endure hardship for the greater good. The strength to impose order and maintain discipline when others falter. Fortitude through adversity.
The Five Virtue Orders
Each virtue is embodied by a knightly order with its own cultural traditions and fighting styles, though all serve the unified cause of the Aurelia Raed.
Order of the Silver Stag (Bretonia) - Valor
Virtue: Valor (Courage & Honor)
Icon: Upright Sword
The Order of the Silver Stag is the living continuation of Arthur's Round Table, born from the first BretonianCeltic/Gaelic peoples from Bretonia in Oikoumene dreamers who carried the legends of Arthur and his companions into Grimmloch. This is the order the knights themselves would have founded had they walked the dreamworld in truth.
The Silver Stag is not pageantry and silks. Its culture is timber halls thick with smoke, feasts where loyalty is tested in drink and story, and oaths sworn on cairns and standing stones that bind tighter than chains. To sit at the Table is to sit as an equal — no man or woman above another, each voice carrying the same weight.
Valor defines the order. Courage is not inherited but proven by deeds: standing first in battle, keeping an oath when it cuts deep, speaking truth even to kings. Betrayal is the gravest sin; loyalty is life itself. Leadership is measured by generosity — a knight or lord shows greatness by what they give, not what they hoard.
The order's rituals are simple but absolute. A weapon gifted in ceremony is more binding than any title. The Vigil of the Stone replaces the chapel vigil of later knights — initiates keep watch at cairns or stone circles, pledging themselves beneath the open sky. At feasts, tales are told of Arthur's battles and companions, binding the fellowship to a lineage of heroes who are not gone, only sleeping beneath the hills until they are needed again.
All paths to valor are honored in this fellowship—sovereigns, enchanters, arbiters, smiths, and counselors—following the pattern set by Guinevere, Morgan, Merlin, Wayland the Smith, and others. Priests may bless swords, but knights still swear by the rivers, stones, and barrows of the land. In Grimmloch, all sacred places hold equal power to bind an oath.
To join the Silver Stag is to choose grit over polish. You will not find silk banners here, but a brotherhood of equals who measure worth by courage at the shield wall and loyalty kept when the world breaks apart. This is Winterfell more than King's Landing, a place where honor is raw, absolute, and real — and where the echo of Arthur's promise still resounds: the king will return when he is most needed.
Order of the Tyrian Talon (Gallia/Francii) - Justice
Virtue: Justice
Icon: Purple Talon / Scales
The Tyrian Talon took shape when the Arthurian dream crossed into Gallia and was remade in the language of courts, law, and pageantry. Where the Silver Stag bound comrades in smoky timber halls, the Talon became an institution of banners, oaths before altars, and the conviction that justice is revealed in both law and combat.
Knighthood is its beating heart, but the Talon is more than armored warriors. Heralds record arms and announce champions in the lists. Troubadours weave songs of honor and disgrace, their words carrying more weight than swords. Chaplains guard relics and guide squires through vigils in candlelit chapels. Scribes keep rolls of lineage and law, reminding every knight that their conduct is judged as much by courts as by kings. Ladies of the court arbitrate devotion, their patronage shaping reputations and fortunes. Craftsmen and stewards sustain the order's feasts, tournaments, and banners, without which its justice would have no stage. Even magisters and symbolists serve here, lending ritual spectacle and divination to the sacred duties of judgment.
Justice defines the Talon. Its knights and companions see themselves as defenders of rightful authority, guardians of law when words fail. Oaths are sworn before relics and priests; broken vows bring both disgrace and divine peril. In this order, combat is trial — a duel not only of strength but of truth itself, where the outcome is believed to reveal divine justice.
Ritual is central. Squires keep vigil overnight in chapels, fasting and praying until dawn. At daybreak, they are anointed, girded with sword and spurs, and struck with the coléesymbolic blow given to new knights during the accolade ceremony — a symbolic blow to remind them of duty. Heralds unfurl new arms; troubadours sing the name of the initiate; ladies bestow tokens that bind loyalty as surely as steel.
To walk among the Talon is to live in a culture where justice is spectacle. Jousts and tournaments are public trials of honor. Courtly devotion tempers ferocity with courtesy. Every act — from the cut of a knight's banner to the song chosen at a feast — is charged with moral weight.
The Tyrian Talon is King's Landing to the Silver Stag's Winterfell: a polished fellowship of law, ritual, and display. Here, a roleplayer may choose to be knight, herald, troubadour, lady, magister, or steward — all bound together in the conviction that justice is not only fought for, but also performed before the world.
Order of the Rubin Ross (Neustria) - Strength
Virtue: Strength
Icon: Ruby Steed / Flame
The Rubin Ross grew from Neustrian orders who took monastic vows but bore the sword. If the Silver Stag was camaraderie and the Tyrian Talon was courtly justice, the Rubin Ross became discipline and strength — a community where every member lived under oath, bound to serve the greater whole.
Knights form the frontline, but the Ross encompasses more. Lay brothers swear the same vows, laboring in fields and kitchens to sustain the order. Craftsmen forge arms and raise stone bastions from wilderness. Chaplains carry relics into battle and hear confessions. Chroniclers record campaigns, ensuring sacrifice becomes memory and memory becomes law. Confratresnoble patrons who support the order financially without being full members — noble patrons who gift wealth and land — wear the ruby cross and shape policy without bearing arms.
The Ross thrives on frontier identity, remembering Holy Campaigns and marches into borderlands. They guard civilization's edge, imposing order when mercy falters. Justice here is iron: disputes ended by duel, vows kept with severity, conversions sworn under banners.
Rituals reflect this severity. Initiates fast before battle, sleep in armor on chapel floors, and take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience beside the ruby flame. Knights receive swords, but lay brothers are given tools with equal solemnity — every sacrifice is service. Feasts recount chronicles of martyrs rather than songs of romance.
The culture is stark. White mantles and ruby crosses replace silks. Castles rise as fortresses, not courts. Where the Talon refines honor, the Ross enforces it.
For roleplayers, the Ross offers master builders designing frontier fortresses, scribes whose chronicles define justice, chaplains wielding relics and judgment, confrater merchant-princes funding campaigns, or lay brothers sustaining the whole through quiet labor. To join the Rubin Ross is to live like the brothers of the Wall — a stark fellowship bound by vows that strip away comfort. Here, strength is the only wealth, and duty burns until nothing remains but service to the cause.
Order of the Hassel Hring (Wendland) - Loyalty
Virtue: Loyalty
Icon: Hazel Ring / Oath Ring
The Hassel Hring was shaped by dreamers who remembered the Væringjar Guard — WendishSlavic peoples from Wendland in Oikoumene and ThuleanNorse/Scandinavian peoples from Thule in Oikoumene warriors who swore oaths in foreign halls and kept them until death. Finding the tables, courts, and cloisters of other orders too bound in ceremony, they founded the Hring, where a word once spoken binds tighter than iron.
Loyalty defines the Hring. Without faithfulness to sworn bonds, no other virtue can endure. To break an oath is soul-destruction. This gives the order its stark reputation: blunt speech, incorruptible loyalty, judgment without flattery. Where the Tyrian Talon argues law and the Rubin Ross enforces rule, the Hring insists that vows themselves are absolute.
The Hazel Ring is their icon — a woven circle of hazel bound with an iron oath-ring — symbolizing the union of the thingsteadNorse assembly grounds where oaths were sworn and laws decided's sacred hazel wands with the sworn ring of loyalty. It is emblem, not ritual object, reminding all that law and oath are one.
The Hring encompasses more than warriors. Skalds preserve deeds in saga — to be forgotten is the worst dishonor. Shipwrights and sailors build and guide vessels across Grimmloch's seas. Quartermasters manage spoils and supplies with stern fairness. Magisters and rune-workers embody the order's magic: inscribing staves with binding runes, sanctifying weapons with storm and sea, reading wyrdNorse concept of fate and destiny in signs to test the truth of men's words.
Rituals are austere but binding. Oaths are sworn on arm-rings, axes, or upon the sea itself. Initiates keep vigil by coastal cairns, pledging truth beneath open sky. The fallen are placed beneath mounds or sent to sea, their names sung into sagas so their word endures. Rune-magic is often woven into these ceremonies — carvings on ships or rings ensuring that vows hold even beyond death.
For roleplayers, the Hring offers chroniclers whose sagas preserve names against forgetting, rune-workers whose craft seals oaths in wood and iron, shipwrights whose skill keeps the order's longships moving, quartermasters who guard the fairness of spoils, and captains who prove their truth by outfitting ships and crews. To join the Hassel Hring is to live as the Mormonts do upon Bear Island — salt-stained, stubborn, and fiercely loyal, with keeps that face the sea and halls that value honesty over polish. Here, honor is not performed in courts but proven in storms, in oaths that hold when all else breaks, and in songs that carry your name across the waves.
Order of the Verdant Shield (Sahil/Numidia) - Compassion
Virtue: Compassion
Icon: Verdant Shield / Nizam Dir' al-Nadr
The Verdant Shield was shaped by dreamers who carried the futuwwaIslamic chivalric tradition emphasizing honor, generosity, and service tradition—the spiritual chivalry of the Maghreb—into Grimmloch. Where other orders proved honor through conquest or ceremony, the Shield found a different path: true strength lies in protecting those who cannot protect themselves, and the greatest victory is turning an enemy into a guest at your table.
Compassion defines the Shield, but this is not the weakness that other orders sometimes mistake it for. Their knights understand that any fool can destroy; it takes true courage to build, to heal, to show mercy when you hold a sword. They follow the way of karamsacred generosity and hospitality in Islamic tradition—sacred generosity—believing that honor is measured not by what you take, but by what you give.
The Shield encompasses far more than warriors. Hakeemwise counselors and judges in Islamic tradition serve as wise counselors and judges, settling disputes through patient mediation rather than trial by combat. Hospitaliers maintain khanrest houses for travelers in Islamic tradition guesthouses where no traveler is turned away, embodying the sacred duty of hospitality. Builders raise wells, bridges, and schools, seeing infrastructure as holy work that serves generations. Protectors of the Roads ensure safe passage for pilgrims and merchants, their strength dedicated to peace rather than plunder. Even reformed brigands find welcome here, their knowledge of the lawless turned toward justice.
Rituals center on service and generosity. New members take vows before the Verdant Shield—not promising poverty, but pledging that their wealth serves the community. WaqfIslamic charitable endowment ceremonies dedicate resources to charitable works. Victory feasts include the poor and stranger alike, for Islamic tradition teaches that angels may walk among the humble.
The Shield's culture prizes adabrefined conduct and educated speech in Islamic tradition—refined conduct and educated speech. Their halls echo with poetry and scholarship alongside the ring of steel. They practice sabrpatient endurance in Islamic tradition—patient endurance—knowing that lasting peace requires wisdom, not just strength.
For roleplayers, the Shield offers the hakeem whose wisdom prevents wars, the hospitalier whose kindness transforms enemies, the builder whose works outlast any monument to conquest, the road protector who makes the world safer for all travelers, or the reformed outlaw seeking redemption through service. To join the Verdant Shield is to follow a path like Dorne's—honor that operates by different rules, no less valid than northern courage or southern pageantry, but distinctly its own. Here, you prove yourself as the faris jawadgenerous knight in Islamic chivalric tradition—the generous knight—showing that the greatest victories are won not through conquest, but through service. Here, compassion is not compromise; it is the highest form of courage.
Kerre Karadel
The great keep of Kerre Karadel rises from a hilltop, its banners visible for miles across the surrounding lands. Built of pale stone and reinforced with steel, the fortress serves as both military stronghold and symbol of the Aurelia Raed's commitment to order and justice.
Within its walls, knights train in the courtyard while scholars debate points of law and honor in the great hall. The keep's chapel serves all five orders, with separate alcoves dedicated to each virtue. Here, new knights swear their oaths upon sacred ground, binding themselves to their chosen virtue and to the greater cause of the faction.
The Regent at Karadel serves as coordinator and counselor to the five orders, managing the practical necessities of maintaining the faction while the orders pursue their respective missions. When the orders must act in concert, they gather in Karadel's war room, where representatives debate strategy and coordinate their efforts.
Luminary: King Arthur
King Arthur has not yet returned from Avalon to the known islands of Grimmloch. The Once and Future King is assumed to still be on Avalon, though none can say with certainty where that mystical isle lies or what keeps him there. His absence creates both longing and purpose within the Aurelia Raed—they prepare for his return by expanding the realm's influence and upholding the chivalric ideals he represents.
Liminal Aspect: Sacred Ground and Eternal Oaths
In Arthur's absence, his influence is felt most strongly in places of sacred oath-making: stone circles where knights pledge their service, ancient burial cairns where heroes rest, and anywhere oaths are sworn and kept. These spaces resonate with the weight of binding promises and the honor of those who fulfill them.
Awaiting the Return: The Aurelia Raed believe Arthur will return when the realm most needs him. Until then, they work to make the world worthy of his return—expanding civilization's reach, championing justice, and proving that chivalric ideals can thrive even in his absence.